Embracing the Madness

This weekend saw team racing action in both MTB and CX, with Rich taking 10th V40 and Josh taking 4th Junior at Round 3 of NDCXL. Across the other side of the Midlands Nick Popham took 4th V40 in the West Mids League race.

No, that's a timing chip on Josh, not an ASBO tag.

Nick T pedalled for longer than the rest of the team combined at the 8hr Margam Madness race!

Nick:

"I entered Margam Madness with 2 reservations;

1. It's a crap name;
2. 8hrs solo race on a course with 450m of climbing in a 10.5k lap;

But without Kielder100 on the calendar I obligated myself.

Forecast was good, warm and dry and training was going to plan. Good job the training stayed on plan, because the weather went AWOL. Light rain all night and drizzle/mist all day turned a tough technical course into part assault course, part hill climb, part mud/rock slide. Good job no Europeans entered ;-)

Only 4 vets stood on the start line for the 8hr solo. One must have not started or drowned in a bog as he didn't feature in the results! So that left 3 of us dotted amongst the seniors and pairs of the 4hr and 8hr race.

The start was steady, everyone seeming to be happy with 8hr pace. We swung off road and up a bank after 500m of double track. It became instantly apparent that skills in gloop, twigs, rocks, roots and hike-a-bike might be useful.

Unlike many courses that start to firm up after a few laps of riding, this one got stickier. By lap 4 although I was safely in 2nd place, but didn't know it, I started to suffer with mud induced chain suck. Very frustrating as I had to stop regularly and spend an age freeing up the chain ring. This cost me a good 5 minutes a lap and several £pounds in the swear box. New XTR clutch mech required!

Ironically, I'd no idea the 3rd place vet ditched the race after 1 lap! I could have come 2nd with 2 laps of racing! However, Paul's encouraging Death Before DNF ringing in my ear holes and no clues to where the competition was, I pushed on.

For once I'd not gone too hard in the earlier laps and kept tapping out a steady, but regular rhythm through the goo and rocks and up the hills.

At the 7 hour mark, Maddie Horton, lap caller and compere for the day announced "number 80 Nick Towers coming through with 2nd place assured, 3rd place has stopped racing". Now with 2nd place in the bag, 1st place way over the hills and heading for the last descent and a 3hour drive home I was tempted to finish it there. So tempted in fact that I did!

After a rather nice and friendly podium session, apologies for the weather and a round of applause for the organisers I bombed off home - mucky, damp, tired, happy.

Thanks to Paul for his encouraging 'words' in my ears every lap, Vredestein Tyres for making a pair of grippy Black Panther tyres and The Middle East for producing the gallons of lube oil I had to use to keep chain suck at bay (some of the time anyway). "

Nick with swag